Collateral Damage Daily for May 8

We may have to gett used to the Nationals commanding more attention because of their big-name players and how well the team is playing. Sunday night’s news involved Jayson Werth’s broken wrist. Today, we find out Ryan Zimmerman is expected to make his return from the disabled list shortly but Werth is expected to be out much longer.

Additions

• The Nationals were doing well with injuries but recently caught the injury bug. The latest casualty was Jayson Werth, who is expected to miss around three months after surgery to repair a broken forearm. When Werth slid trying to catch a blooper on Sunday, his hand and wrist bent backward, causing enough force to fracture the distal radius bone of the forearm. The fracture was unstable enough to require surgery, so Werth went under the knife on Monday. It’s expected that he’s going to miss at least three months between allowing the bone to heal and then begin baseball activities. Bryce Harper will move over from left to right field while Werth is recovering.
• After tripping right before first base on Sunday and face-planting shortly afterward, Ruben Tejada was placed on the disabled list on Monday with a strained right quad. He underwent an MRI on Sunday, which confirmed the clinical diagnosis. Tejada was feeling a little better on Monday, but the Mets wanted to make sure that the injury won’t linger over the course of the year. The Mets were adamant that Tejada did not suffer a concussion. Jordany Valdespin, Justin Turner, and Ronny Cedeno are going to fill it in over the next few weeks while everything is worked out.
• LaTroy Hawkins was placed on the disabled list yesterday because of a broken pinkie finger he sustained on the last play of Sunday’s game. The ball happened to catch Hawkins just right, but it didn’t stop him from making the play. Fractured fingers usually take about four to six weeks to heal, which is what we should expect in this case. David Pauley was brought up to take Hawkins’ roster spot.
• Jhoulys Chacin was originally scheduled to head to Colorado Springs because of ineffectiveness on May 2 but was instead placed on the 15-day DL with right shoulder inflammation. Chacin has struggled so far this year; giving up seven runs in less than five innings is an indication of something being wrong, though not necessarily injury-related. There’s no word yet on how long he will be out.
• Dan Schlereth decided that Chacin had the right idea and had his option cancelled; he, too, was placed on the 15-day DL retroactive to April 21 with left shoulder inflammation. Schlereth admitted that he dealt with shoulder soreness essentially the entire first month of the season but tried to work through it without telling the team. It clearly didn’t work, but the silver lining iis that he is eligible to return at any point. There has not been any update yet on how long Schlereth will be out.

Subtractions

• Miguel Cairo was activated from the disabled list after missing 22 days with a strained left hamstring. Cairo didn’t exactly light it up while on his rehab stint; he went 0-for-10 with a couple strikeouts. Nonetheless, he was able to stay healthy, which is the main thing, and Cairo expects the hamstring to behave the rest of the way. Willie Harris was sent down to make room for Cairo.
• Aubrey Huff was also activated from the disabled list on Monday. Huff battled anxiety related issues and was able to get back sooner than most thought in that he only missed the minimum. Guillermo Mota was placed on the restricted list for his 100-game suspension for a banned substance.